Restaurant diners should put on their masks "in between bites" to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a far-left Democrat.
What are the details?
"Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend?" the governor's office said in a Saturday tweet. "Don't forget to keep your mask on in between bites."
"Do your part to keep those around you healthy," according to the tweet's text, which added a "Slow the Spread" hashtag.
Contradiction, much?
Interestingly the tweet includes an image showing a diner wearing a mask while reading a menu, then with her mask off while eating, and then with her mask on again after finishing her meal; the image is titled, "COVD-19 DINER TIP 1: Minimize the number of times you take your mask off." The graphic's message is the opposite of Newsom's suggestion, which would increase the number of times masks are removed since he wants them placed on between bites.
How are folks reacting to the message?
As you might expect, Newsom & Co.'s nanny-like micromanagement and contradictory statements received some sarcastic pushback on Twitter:
- "Should we wash our hands after touching our mask each time we remove it between bites? What if I'm eating chips and salsa and I go for a double dip?" one user wondered. "Is that technically two bites since it's the same chip?"
- The same user brought up a second quandary: "What if I take a bite of the chip (first dip) and it gets lodged in my throat and I start choking? Should I put the mask on first and then start coughing or would it be OK to try and preserve my life first without the mask?"
- "The best part is that the text and the image completely contradict each other," a commenter pointed out. "How do you limit the number of time you take your mask off, if you take it off for every bite?
If you're taking huge bites and choke, is anyone allowed to do the Heimlich?"
- Another user was downright blunt: "... if I'm at a table with my family and appropriately distanced from others THERE'S NO CHANCE IN HELL I'M WEARING A MASK BETWEEN BITES. YOU'RE INSANE!"
- "This embarrasses me, a Californian who voted for Newsom," another user said. "Mask-wearing/social distancing are vital, but this is ridiculous. Touching your mask that frequently is worse. Patio dining, masked servers, masked patrons except when eating/drinking. Take this down & alter the directive."
- "Is this now a parody account? This advice is absolutely terrible and you should go sit in the corner for an hour and think about your poor choices (and tweets)," another user noted. "Seriously, this is the official account for the governor of California. My goodness. Get it together please!"
Anything else?
California has allowed limited indoor dining to resume in a number of counties, and San Francisco allowed indoor dining last week at 25% capacity, Fox News reported. There have been over 800,000 coronavirus cases and over 16,000 deaths in the state related to it, the cable network added.
